Chapter 190: Arkala (1/2)
The journey to Arkala would have been a long and hard one alone, but with his friends at his side cheerfully chattering away, time seemed to just fly by quickly. So quickly, that Xinya barely noticed the sun setting and rising again.
This displacement of time wasn't only due to his friends but the journey itself. Using the map as his guide, he tried his best to avoid the nearby monsters. To accomplish this the group had to traverse through dense trees and other troublesome places.
Such as muddy bogs, swamps, and floral covered valleys. Xinya knew that most people wouldn't see the problem with the last one, but if there was one thing that he learned during his time playing this game it was flowers can be deadly.
He was right to be cautious, the valley was filled with Ahaetulla Nasuta also known as the rose vine snakes. These monsters were as beautiful as they were deadly. They are said to be in the same species as the Floret Buns. However, no one knows why besides the fact that they both had the earth element, but then again a lot of monsters did.
Like the Floret Buns they would also drag a player off to be devoured, but unlike the Floret Buns they don't drag their victims underground, they instead spit a toxic poison unto the player which paralyzes them.
Once the player is paralyzed they will come out from plain sight where they were hiding and slither over to the prone person. They will then coil their bodies around their victims and force their way into their mouths.
When they are inside of the player body they will eat them from the inside out. However since that would be a traumatizing experience, the game developers decided to allow the player to be considered dead as soon as the monster enter's their mouth.
Xinya shivered at the prospect of one of those flower snakes even getting that far. He made extra sure that everyone didn't come in five feet of one of those things. Because not only were they a higher level than they were, he had no way to counter their poison yet.
Although right now, they had already passed the valley of venomous flower snakes and were following a rocky path up a small mountain. They had been trekking up the steep incline for a while now, and their stamina was lowering with every step, but they didn't care.
They didn't mind using up their supply of stamina potions if it meant getting to their destination faster. Even when they all knew that stopping and setting up camp would be the better idea and an easier way to restore their stats.
They didn't want to though knowing that would only slow them down. Their anticipation was too high and it was exactly that which was keeping them going.
However, this determination of theirs did pay off. When the sun was high in the sky the group reached the top of the mountain and finally caught their first glimpse of Arkala.
A startled gasp escaped all of their lips as they took in the beautiful view that was in front of them. There is was, right in front of them, the place that they journeyed so far to get to, and as they looked at the town they knew it was worth it.